1. Field of the Invention
An aspect of the present invention relates to an energy management system, an energy management method and a repeater for an energy management system, which reduce communication traffic between a central management server and a plurality of meters respectively installed in energy consuming households and enable information on energy consumption rates to be more rapidly provided to users.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, various attempts for effectively using limited energy resources have been made.
Accordingly, a plan for differentiating energy price depending on production and consumption situations of energy has recently been conceived, and a smart grid or smart meter has come into the spotlight as a technology for promoting an effective use of energy.
The smart grid is a next-generation power network that can optimize energy efficiency and create a new added value by enabling customers to bidirectionally exchange real-time information with each other through combination of information technology (IT) with a power network.
In view of an energy consumer, the smart grid means that the energy consumer searches a time zone most reasonable for the energy consumer according to a change in energy price and uses energy for the time zone.
The smart meter refers to an electronic meter to which a communication function is added. Since the smart meter can perform bidirectional communication between an energy supplier and a customer, the remote inspection can be performed in real time, and the amount of power consumption can be precisely metered. Accordingly, the smart meter can obtain effects such as saving of metering cost and energy.
Meanwhile, inspection information of meters respectively installed in energy consuming households is transmitted to a central management server through a repeater, and the transmitted inspection information is managed by the central management server. Therefore, a large amount of communication traffic occurs between the central management server and the plurality of meters.
For example, in the case of Korea, meters respectively installed in about ten million households transmits and receives various kinds of energy related information to and from a central management server through a repeater. In addition, the meter installed in each of the energy consuming households may request the central management server of various information related to energy consumption, such as an energy consumption rate, and therefore, communication traffic may be more increased.
The increase in communication traffic may act as a primary factor that interrupts the smooth flow of the energy related information. Further, the increase in communication traffic may make it difficult to rapidly respond to a request of each user by increasing the load of the central management server. Therefore, it is required to develop a plan for solving such a problem.